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In Homers Iliad Priam the human King of Troy and Zeus the divine King of the gods are only separated by the gift of immortality Homer compares and contrasts these great kings to show the results of this gift Zeus is less invincible and imperturbable than he should be for his divine status Both the divine King of the gods and the human King of Troy have a weakness for their children which brings the mighty immortal god to the down to level of the lowly human Homer draws these similarities between the divinity and the human in order to heighten the crucial difference in their lives and the lives of all other immortals and mortals like them Throughout his life Priam suffers then he dies Zeus on the other hand has never felt an ounce of true regret or pain because his life never ends it is simply a game with no winner Through Priams suffering Homer shows the nobility of a tortured life as opposed to a life lived as a game Zeus King of the gods has a weakness with regards to his children When Sarpedon Zeus son is in the war path of Patroclus Zeus ponders whether he should snatch Sarpedon out of the sorrowful battle to save him from certain death and set him down alive somewhere safe Iliad 16436-437 If he brings Sarpedon back to his home still living the other gods will all want to save their favorites Iliad 16445 Zeus follows the advice of his wife he makes a decision that is best for the gods It is best because the half-god children would all want to be saved by their respective divine parents As a result of Zeus allowing his beloved son to die Zeus shows that he can make difficult decisions against will of his aching heart in order to do what is best for his kingdom Homer shows that Zeus can be levelheaded

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